Bridging to Resilience

Children are developing in a rapidly changing landscape. Teachers, administrators, and other adults are struggling to meet the challenges. Yet, even as we examine the ways in which adversity can hinder development, we know that resiliency factors can build back stronger. Educational Neuroscience shows that the brain is remarkably plastic. With each experience and each bit of information absorbed, our students’ brains are fundamentally changing. As learners are immersed in rich social, cultural, and academic environments, their brains are rapidly working to remodel themselves, resulting in more efficient integrated neural networks. In this session, learn how students’ brains shape which circuits remain active and which are pruned away, and how forming safe, neuro-affirming connections with adults can improve health and efficiency. This session also examines how learning and identity are formed in the developing brain, and how awareness and language of the nervous system hold the keys to unlocking felt-safety.

So often we assume that the body and brain are two separate things.  We teach the brain but ignore the body.  
We know that your brain craves routine, consistency, and predictability but it also craves novelty.
We have seen an upswing in dysregulation in our classrooms and when we don’t take the time to sit beside our students in those moments and provide opportunities for coregulation and teach them some responsive, proactive strategies to begin to notice the onset of dysregulation we are putting them at a disadvantage.
I will be focusing on the applied educational neuroscience framework, nervous system development, and lots of strategies that can be incorporated into your classroom or practice with very little time - no money and will have tremendous impact on focus, attention, restoring some calm, and continue to support building resilience within our students and ourselves.
Discipline begins with us and these responsive strategies can be built into our daily routines that are going to make a real difference!

Being able to de-escalate a student and/or adult is a crucial skill in today’s classroom environment. We all have learned basic de-escalation skills but have you ever looked at it from a brain perspective? In this session, we will learn how to evaluate which part of the brain has been activated during a crisis and learn how to bring that portion of the brain back to reality all while keeping ourselves regulated as well.